Michigan State Basketball: 5 takeaways from critical win at Nebraska

Michigan State basketball silenced critics yet again with another road win, this time over Nebraska in Lincoln. What did we learn?

Who would have thought we’d be talking about a 16-2 team which is 7-0 in Big Ten play in the middle of January without the likes of Josh Langford and Kyle Ahrens?

Losing a starter and his replacement looked like it may doom this team, especially since Langford is the team’s third-leading scorer, but the Spartans have stepped up to put together a nice run in conference play, including a huge win over Nebraska on Thursday.

What’d we learn from the Spartans’ six-point road win at Nebraska?

5. Michigan State needs to force more turnovers

This is something that doesn’t get talked about enough since the topic is usually “Michigan State turns it over too much” but the Spartans need to force more turnovers.

For the aggressive defense that they play, the Spartans are only forcing a handful of turnovers every game and they have a negative margin — that’s not winning basketball. Sure, this team is talented enough to mask the turnovers with an elite offensive attack and decent defense to boot, but forcing a few more turnovers would lead to more fast breaks and teams being worn down earlier.

For the amount of times Michigan State coughs the ball up, it never seems to return the favor and cause teams to lose the ball with spectacular plays on that end of the floor.

Michigan State needs to start owning a positive turnover margin and then you’ll see the true potential of this team.